Cleaning implements having a holder and a cleaning article are widely known, the holder being attachably inserted in a holder-receiving pocket of the cleaning article. Because the cleaning implement of this type is used while gripped by the handle of the holder, it is easy to adjust the force of applying the brush, etc. of the cleaning article to a surface of an object being cleaned, which provides improved maneuverability of the cleaning implement.
Some cleaning implements have the holder-receiving pocket of the cleaning article made narrower than the insertion portion of the holder so that the cleaning article may not come off the holder while the handle is gripped during a cleaning operation. However, such cleaning implements cause a user difficulty in inserting the holder into the pocket on use and removing the holder from the pocket after use. If, on the other hand, the pocket of the cleaning article is wider than the insertion portion of the holder, the holder can easily be inserted into the pocket but, in turn, holder easily comes off the pocket. That is, the cleaning article can be detached from the holder during a cleaning operation, causing a user trouble.
To solve the problem, cleaning implements designed to help insert a holder into a holder-receiving pocket of a cleaning article by taking advantage of elastic deformation of the insertion portion of the holder have been proposed.
For example, JP 2003-265390A discloses a cleaning implement including a wipe (cleaning article) and a wipe holder. The holder includes a pair of plastic insertion plates extending in parallel with each other that are to be inserted in the pocket of the wipe. Each of the insertion plates has two projections formed integrally with the plate and spaced apart in the longitudinal direction on the outboard edge of the plate. The wipe as a cleaning article has two holder-receiving pockets extending in parallel with each other. Each of the pockets has its longitudinally middle region narrowed by the presence of a fused line. When the pair of insertion plates are inserted into the respective pockets, they are elastically deformed inward, and, after the leading projections slide with the respective fused lines at a small contact area, the holder is secured to the wipe with the narrowed portion being positioned between the two projections.
The patent document 1: JP2003-265390A
According to the wipe disclosed in JP 2003-265390A, the pair of insertion plates each have projections on their outboard edges, and the insertion plate-receiving pockets each have a bottleneck region in which a fused line is formed to make that region narrower than the width of the insertion plate inclusive of each projection. Because the insertion plates inserted into the respective pockets are snapped into position after the leading projection passes through the bottleneck region, the sliding between the projections of the insertion plates and the bottleneck region of the pockets generates a considerable load. Therefore, the projections can be caught in the pockets, the insertion plates can bend, and, in some cases, the pockets can be broken.